S-Club-7

I checked my order for the check rail chairs and there was no postage charges, so I don't know what's going on here

 

Anybody got any experience of ordering from them ?

Shapeways occasionally have offers when postage is free - it may be that your previous purchase was made during one of these offer periods?  Your previous invoice should detail this.

Otherwise there is a fixed price for delivery regardless of order size so it makes sense to club together with family and friends to buy from any of the thousands of Shapeways shops at the same time - only one delivery charge.

According to my calendar May has now been and gone.  

So far I've seen no notifications anywhere that this book has already been published (in which case where's the copy that I pre-ordered?) or is going to be published later than planned.

Does anybody have any idea what's happening?

Dave

Unless Phil included a pack then you may need some of these as well:

Available at https://www.shapeways.com/product/6Z36U7WS7/talyllyn-signalbox-finials

Regards, Dave

Just starting to use and adapt the Shapeways crossing chairs for the wider flangeways.

 

First thoughts are that they are a very tight fit on the rail. So tight that the rail forces the chair apart  curving the base. So I'm splitting each chair under each rail - 2 to 4 cuts in most cases.

 

Second observation is that they are designed for S7 sleeper spacings and those for 31.5 in Templot are subtly different. To position them in the correct place is a second reason they need cutting.

 

Third observation is that the material they are made from is quite brittle (Careful with those spring castings Mark) and being clear difficult to see!

 

Going to be an effort but worth it.

Sorry for the delay in replying but work and real life gets in the way sometimes!

• Tight fit: caused by the chairs being drawn to fit my stock of 20+ year old rail.  Current supplies seem to be of a slightly different cross-section; possibly due to worn tools at the rail rolling factory?  The 3D prints will also vary; Shapeways' tolerances are published on their website. 
• You may get a slightly better fit if you set Templot to measure the angle as CLM rather than RAM.  CLM is what the prototype used so that's what the chairs were drawn as.  Bear in mind that an under- (or over-) sized print will affect the spacing between the rails.  How is the angle of your filing jig measured?
• The FUD acrylic material is brittle but is the best material offered by Shapeways for reproducing the detail; indeed it is the only material available which will reproduce some of these small components at all.  It is totally different to the styrene used by modellers and is best sawn (with a piercing or fine razor saw) rather than cut with a knife.  If you soak the items in white spirit for a while then not only will the oil and wax used during printing be removed but the surface will, according to the Shapeways forum, turn foggy/frosty/hazy making the components slightly more visible.  It's also worth marking the components, before removing from the sprue, with a permanent marker pen.  Red for port (left); green for starboard (right) and black for the end nearest the toe of the turnout.

Currently (for the last year at least) on the drawing board are chairs with separate tapered keys in an attempt to ease some of the above the assembly issues.

Hope that helps.

Regards, Dave

Do I spy some " slab and bracket " chairs in amongst the other goodies?

 

Martyn.

Yes you did; but they are based on the designs used by the LNER, SR and LMS.  

GWR slab & bracket chairs are available from here.

Regards Dave R

... Do you have any insight into stopping the less-well-attached timbers from sliding along the rails, and/or falling off?...

You could always do what the prototype does and "bolt" the rail to the chair.

Available from here for your next turnout.